At least, it gives every appearance of being one.
From airing family-pleasing hits like Touched By an Angel (a Top 10-rated
program which earned multiple Emmy nominations for its stars Roma Downey and
Della Reese); Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; and Murder, She Wrote,
CBS has steadily abandoned the programming successes that made the network
number one…and is now apparently bent on showcasing programming which cheapens
its image and which few people want to watch.

With their new programming strategy CBS’
executives are forsaking any pretense of being responsible custodians of the
public airwaves.

Back in November of 2004, in the wake of the
Janet Jackson debacle, CBS’ top management agreed that they had been responsible
for airing indecent programming. The network’s leaders signed a consent decree
with the Federal Communications Commission admitting their wrongdoing, and paid
a fine. Even more importantly, they committed to a detailed plan outlining their
future compliance with federal broadcast indecency regulations. This agreement
included a promise to suspend employees responsible for any future airing of
indecent material. In exchange, the FCC dismissed all the outstanding indecency
complaints against CBS.

Then, as now, the network’s bosses demonstrated
that their promises were worthless. CBS re-aired an episode of the drama
Without A Trace which featured a teenage orgy. As a result, the FCC
(prompted in part by the PTC’s vigilance) fined CBS and its affiliates 3.6
million dollars.

The last time CBS showed an orgy, it cost them
millions of dollars in fines – and the orgy was incidental to the program’s
story. Yet now, CBS is going forward with its new drama Swingtown – the
entire point of which is showing orgies and glamorizing “open marriage.”

Nor is Swingtown the only manifestation of
CBS’ suicidal plunge towards the bottom of the programming barrel. In addition
to its upcoming glorification of group sex, the network is now also airing
“mixed martial arts” competitions. Along with the fact that the network also
aired Dexter, the graphically gory program which portrayed a psychotic
serial killer as a cute, quirky hero, this obsession with blood and brutality
displays a disturbing consistency.

This is how CBS keeps its promise to avoid
indecency: by showing spouse-swapping sex, sadistic serial killers and savage,
bloody street fighting…all in prime time, where hundreds of thousands of
children are exposed to it.

Nor are children the only ones impacted by CBS’
irresponsible programming decisions. What of advertisers, who are paying to have
their products shown in an environment which makes TV viewers feel positive, and
which encourages them to want to purchase such products? What of CBS’
stockholders, who want a fair return on their investment – and are seeing
viewers flee in droves from CBS’ programming? Most of all, what of average
Americans who tune in seeking diversion – and instead receive perversion?

CBS’ new programming is not safe for children and
is not widely popular with adults. Viewership figures for Dexter were
uniformly dismal. On at least one occasion (March 16, 2008), Dexter was
surpassed in its timeslot not only by an inane game show – but also by a
rerun of NBC's Law & Order: SVU, which beat
Dexter in the ratings by an incredible 33%!

Nor are the new mixed martial arts programs
welcomed by all viewers. While a success with TV watchers in Los Angeles, the
fight competition airing May 31st was pre-empted by stations in
Montana, Ohio and North Carolina, which replaced the brutal program with
telethons or movies.

CBS is obviously a network in desperation; yet
apparently, CBS executives like Les Moonves, Nina Tassler and others believe
that the solution to their woes lies not in providing an alternative to the
sleazy fare available on basic cable – but in doing their utmost to become a
cable network themselves. Consider:

CBS has brought mixed martial arts programming
from basic cable to broadcast…in prime time. And with Swingtown, CBS is
attempting to copy premium cable sex programs like Californication onto
broadcast…in prime time. The network’s new programs are imitating the salacious
and “edgy” fare available on cable…except that CBS puts such programming on the
publicly-owned airwaves, early in the evening, and makes it available to
children.

CBS has lost its way. Now reduced to showing
smutty sitcoms, serial killers, orgies, and savage street fighting, the
once-Tiffany network is apparently trying to become a cheap carbon copy of cable
network Spike, or their bottom-feeding broadcast competitor MyNetworkTV. When
CBS’ ratings spiral downward -- as they inevitably will – perhaps the network
will finally discover that the way to please viewers, advertisers and investors
is to show something they actually want to watch.

“At the end of the day, the integrity of our
company and the respect that you feel for CBS becomes the most important
consideration." – CBS President Les
Moonves, April 12, 2008

TV Trends:
This column was compiled from reports by the Parents
Television Council’s Analysis staff.

Parents Television Council,
www.parentstv.org, PTC,
Clean Up TV Now, Because our children are watching, The
nation's most influential advocacy organization, Protecting
children against sex, violence and profanity in
entertainment, Parents Television Council Seal of Approval,
and Family Guide to Prime Time Television
are trademarks of the Parents Television Council.